Global oil demand will fall more sharply this year than previously forecast due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and there are uncertainties about next year’s recovery, according to a monthly report released by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting States (OPEC) on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

OPEC expects global oil demand to fall by 9.06 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, more than last month’s decline forecast – of 8.95 million bpd. Also, the demand for crude oil produced by OPEC would increase in 2020 to 23.8 million barrels per day, the cartel predicts.

“The evolution of crude oil production and price in the second half of 2020 will continue to be affected by fears of a second wave of infections and higher global stockpiles,” the OPEC report said, according to Agerpres.

To offset declining demand and support crude oil prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other non-cartel producers, grouped in the OPEC+ alliance, decided in May a record cut of production, by 9.7 million barrels a day.

Isolation measures introduced to control the spread of the virus have particularly affected the oil market and at the end of the second quarter of 2020 prices were down 38% from the same period in 2019.